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PROS

CONS

Limited replay for non-shooter fans; variety in gameplay low.

VERDICT

While abstract shooters may have a limited appeal, Phoenix by Firi Games is a no-nonsense shooter that challenges players to dive in again and again to reach new heights by beating the odds that are stacked against them.

Full Review

App Store Info

UPDATE: Sometimes it only takes a small change to make a big impact and the updates released for Phoenix have made it a definite must-have for shooter fans; providing a polished level of skill-based gameplay that's appealing thanks to its dynamic difficulty system. Changes to the power-up system add a new layer of depth for hardcore gamers to master and at this point it's safe to say Phoenix is definitely focused on appealing to this crowd instead of a broader audience. With this in mind, Phoenix is a great grab for action gamers after a challenging and competitive 'arcade' title.

Firi Games' previous SHMUP title for the App Store (Flare Elite) was an interesting experiment that may not have hit home for everyone, but it showed that there's still plenty of innovation left to be explored in the genre. Their latest title, Phoenix, changes things up once again and joins other abstract SHMUP like rRootage in exploring endless gameplay that evolves with players over time.

Phoenix is a sparse game and players are welcomed with a basic title screen that leads almost immediately in to the game itself after setting your minimum difficulty level. Swiping the screen moves your ship around smoothly and firing is handled automatically. Power-ups drop regularly from fallen enemies and range from health to keep you in the game a bit longer, weapon level ups to help speed through smaller enemies faster and super weapons that grant a temporary boost to your damage.

The purity of the gameplay feels great and the better you are at avoiding damage, the harder the AI gets in an attempt to reach a balance that feels right for you, resulting in matches that can go from a handful of seconds to minutes at a time depending on the challenge you're after. Scores can also be submitted to leader boards that match you against players in your city, state, country and region as well as around the world.

Phoenix isn't for everyone and the simplicity of the gameplay can get monotonous for some quite quickly, but if you've ever enjoyed your time with other abstract shooters like rRootage or ISUD then Phoenix is another great addition to your collection.

Description

Anyone can rise to the challenge in this action packed shoot'em up. Phoenix is a modern arcade game with intense action and brilliant graphics, where every playthrough is different. Some of our unique features include:

* Dynamic Difficulty – fun for everyone!
Phoenix is a challenging game that adapts its difficulty to the player skill, making it exciting for players of all skills. The adaptive AI director ensures the game provides a fair challenge for everyone, by changing the difficulty while playing.

* Procedurally Generated Content
The procedural content generator can create hundreds of thousands of enemy variations. Combined with the adaptive AI director, no single game will be the same.

* Amazing Visuals
Our in-house developed Flare engine provides the ability to display hundreds of bullets and particles at the same time, while still running on all iOS devices, including the original iPhone. This makes Phoenix one of the most spectacular shoot 'em ups available for everyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch.

* Regional High Score Ladders and Game Center Support
Phoenix can use location information to build regional high scores rankings, so you can compare scores with other players in your vicinity. Become the best player in your city, province, country and continent! Phoenix also includes Game Center support to compare your score with those of your friends.

* Plenty of Weapons and Power-ups
Both the player and the enemies have a large variety of different weapons at their disposal, each with their own characteristics. Alongside the weapons there are a plethora of power-ups to provide that extra edge needed to overcome the hardest challenges.

What's New in Version 1.3.1

* Brute
A new enemy ship has been added, the Brute! This large class enemy moves around at considerable speed and fires its unique new split-shot turrets.

* New Alpha Strike
The close range lightning weapon from the Shogun has been added as a new Alpha Strike. Twelve Tesla Coil projectiles are launched, shooting lightning at enemies everywhere!

* Improved menus
The 'Friends' and 'Achievements' buttons are now accessible from the Main Main. The ability to mute sound effects and music separately have been added and moved to the settings screen.

* Chinese
Celebrating the year of the Dragon we have added full simplified Chinese translation to the game (except for these patch notes), enjoy!

* Numerous fixes
Lots of tweaks to improve performance as well as visual quality.

Screenshots

Comments

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mr_wexer5 years, 8 months ago

And the latest update contains in app purchases...now it's just packed with awesome :D

FalloutNewVegas6 years, 1 month ago

Ok so I got the game and Its just simply great. Its intense, fun to look at and kept me and my friends quite busy, pumping our fists in the air every time we beat each others highscores. This is definately my 2nd favourite game right below tilt-to-live. I can agree with the review that its not for everyone one because of the difficulty that non-shmup fans may not be accustomed with, and two because of the variety of the gameplay. BUT any shmup fan hardcore or just likes the style should buy this game. Its completely worth it.

FalloutNewVegas6 years, 1 month ago

I always thought of the idea of a endless shmup. Well there's no reason not to get it since its such a reasonable price.